Thursday, March 27, 2014

Placing bets on the future state of the climate makes sense, but in a research mode, not just in public displays of "calling out" particular opponents....

This recent flurry of calling people out (reminds me of elementary schoolyard brawls - "I'm faster than you!" "No you're not!" "Prove it!" "Meet you after school on the playground!") no doubt has a high element of drama....

I think that while such chest thumping displays are certainly entertaining, they tell us little about the broader state of uncertainty among experts or the public....

I’m not particularly certain when pointing out the fact that it might be cool or rainy in your hometown one afternoon became subject for worthwhile blog material, but you have started to see this all the time on certain conservative blogs, probably led by the example of Matt Drudge.

Therefore, because I’d like to see more accountability on all sides of this debate and because I’m tired of people who don’t understand statistics and because I’d like to make some money, I issue the following challenge.

You are eligible for this challenge if [limits bets to certain category of bloggers]....

The rules of the challenge are as follows:

1. For each day that the high temperature in your hometown is at least 1 degree Fahrenheit above average, as listed by Weather Underground, you owe me $25. For each day that it is at least 1 degree Fahrenheit below average, I owe you $25.

2. The challenge proceeds in monthly intervals, with the first month being August. At the end of each month, we’ll tally up the winning and losing days and the loser writes the winner a check for the balance.

3. The challenge automatically rolls over to the next month until/unless: (i) one party informs the other by the 20th of the previous month that he would like to discontinue the challenge (that is, if you want to discontinue the challenge for September, you’d have to tell me this by August 20th), or (ii) the losing party has failed to pay the winning party in a timely fashion, in which case the challenge may be canceled at the sole discretion of the winning party.

6 comments:

Will make another $125.- remainder of this month.Actually I'd like $25.- for every degree F over normal. That should rake me in near a mille by end of weekend, Sunday worth almost $500.- :)Not to mention what already happened here this month. Last Friday worth $500.- too. Hm.

Silver should be careful. The Eastern US was caught this winter bearing the brunt of the polar vortex. Most of the people who would take him up on the bet are Americans. And few people live near the Arctic Circle where the dramatic warming will occur. He could get cleaned out quick. And the globe could still warm. He appears to think "local" is something you drive through daily. Eastern North America is pretty local, too. And just as anomalous.

The 'brunt of the polar vortex'... Meaningless. England took the brunt of that vortex - actually!!Let's call that thing 'jet stream' or, if really need be for hemispheric talking, 'circumpolar vortex'. As to the latter talking please be reminded that a part of the USA is NOT the hemisphere, not even if that part in the USA experiences some frost.

As to the US winter, January wasn't remarkable, and February in Michigan was same as the normal 1900-1980. It felt devastatingly cold exactly of because of this!

Returning to the numbers, how many who believe the talking heads who speak of global temperatures rising 4 C by 2050 and/or 6C by 2020 would care to bet by the decade on which 10 year interval to come will be the first to see a whole degree of delta T?

Since temperatues need to rise an average of .111 C per year to get us +4C higher by 2050, something needs to happen before the climate sensitivity goalposts go walkabout.

I don't think that Michigan is the normal temp example you want to use, not this year:

"For those interested in how this winter is shaping up relative to our historical record, preliminary climate data suggest that statewide mean temperatures for the December through February 2013-2014 period will average out at about 15 F or about 6.5 F below normal, which would put the season into the books among the five coldest on record."

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Eli Rabett

Eli Rabett, a not quite failed professorial techno-bunny who finally handed in the keys and retired from his wanna be research university. The students continue to be naive but great people and the administrators continue to vary day-to-day between homicidal and delusional without Eli's help. Eli notices from recent political developments that this behavior is not limited to administrators. His colleagues retain their curious inability to see the holes that they dig for themselves. Prof. Rabett is thankful that they, or at least some of them occasionally heeded his pointing out the implications of the various enthusiasms that rattle around the department and school. Ms. Rabett is thankful that Prof. Rabett occasionally heeds her pointing out that he is nuts.